Title: Final PreparationsCharacters: Lockon, AllelujahRating: PGWarnings: Injections/needles. I know some people don't like to even read about them.Notes: Just hit me the other day that the Meisters spend a hell of a lot of time on tropical islands/in war torn countries/whatever, and those places are often teeming with virulent diseases that I refuse to believe have been completely wiped out by then. Hence, lots of vaccinations and anti-malarial tablets etc. And I also figure Allelujah isn't so hot on needles.

Summary: Allelujah and Lockon and one of the prepartions necessary for the start of their mission.

"Allelujah?" Lockon ducked into the room, smiling faintly when he saw the other Meister sitting on the end of the bed, his back turned to the door.

Allelujah twisted to look at him, his expression twisting into a self depreciating smile when he spotted the black case that Lockon was carrying. "I'd been hoping that you'd forgotten," he said wryly.

Lockon snorted and dropped the case on the bed, perching next to Allelujah and clasping his shoulder warmly. "It's starting soon. We need everyone ready," there was a note of anticipation to his voice and Allelujah couldn't really blame him. They'd been waiting for this for months... years, and the last few months had been the worst.

"I guess it's difficult to believe it's really going to happen," Allelujah said, stripping off his shirt as Lockon opened the case, pulling out the alcohol wipes and sterile cotton pads. The needles.

Lockon flashed him a grin before turning back to the case, pulling out the first ampoule and taking a syringe out of the sterile packet. He broke the top of the ampoule and Allelujah watched as his clever fingers filled the syringe with practiced motions. "It had to happen sometime," Lockon replied, squeezing the plunger of the syringe to get rid of the air. "We've been waiting for long enough." He nudged Allelujah and opened one of the wipes, looking at the other Meister expectantly.

Allelujah made a small noise of agreement, holding out his arm obediently and turning his head away so that he couldn't see the needle. Lockon grasped his wrist and rubbed the wipe over the crook of his elbow. His grip tightened near painfully as he slid the needle into Allelujah's arm, feeling the spasm and the hiss from the other man as he injected the liquid before pulling the needle out and dropping it back into the case to be disposed of.

"How many are there?" Allleujah asked quietly, bending his arm and wincing at the stiffness spreading through it.

"A couple more, and some pills to take," Lockon replied calmly, pressing the cotton pad to Allelujah's arm and taping it there to hold it in place. "You know the drill by now."

Allelujah chuckled softly, poking experimentally at the pad with a sort of morbid fascination. "I'm going to be full of holes before we even see combat," he said dryly. "They've given us more vaccines and drugs than I knew existed."

Lockon snorted in amusement, filling the next syringe from a different ampoule. "We could end up anywhere and we don't know what could happen. We're only human after all. It's just a precaution. Wouldn't want to end up incapacitated 'cause you caught some tropical disease."

Allelujah just nodded, holding out his arm again. He wasn't entirely sure if he could even catch any of those diseases considering how many vaccinations and drugs had been pumped into him. He hadn't been ill since... since... Well, better to have the vaccinations anyway.

Lockon grasped his upper arm this time, wiping a spot on Allelujah's shoulder. "This one isn't into a vein so it shouldn't be as bad," he murmured, focussing on what he was doing.

Allelujah tensed as he waited, anticipation always worse than the actual injection. He thought absently that Lockon might have made a good doctor if he hadn't ended up with Celestial Being. He was reassuring to be around. He winced when the needles pierced his skin, but it was over a second later, leaving only a tiny red mark to show for it.

"Other shoulder," Lockon murmured, preparing the last needle. Allelujah turned, presenting the other arm to Lockon and the injection was over within a minute. It didn't even hurt, not compared to some of the injuries he'd had before.

"That's it," Lockon said, putting the old needles back into the case so the whole thing could be disposed of properly. "You just need to see Moreno in a couple of days to make sure everything's okay. Sooner if you start feeling ill."

Allelujah nodded, feeling a little embarrassed now that it was over. "Don't I feel foolish now," he said with a small smile.

Lockon shrugged and leaned back on the bed with a grin. "Lots of people don't like needles. As long as you can take them when you need to, it isn't a problem." he turned a little so that he could smile at the other Meister. "I figure you have your own reasons for getting me to do it instead of going to the infirmary like the rest of us."

Allelujah nodded in agreement, feeling a wash of relief for the easy acceptance of whatever had come before. It was an unspoken rule within Celestial Being that you never asked about that time unless it was offered. They all had their own reasons for what they did.

It wasn't that he was afraid of needles. He'd endured too many injections to be afraid of them anymore, but he couldn't stop his own reaction to them as a threat. It had been decided after the first couple of times that it was easier if he received them in his own space by someone he was closer to than a doctor.

"I'd put up with a lot to maintain my position," he said finally, shifting on the bed so that his back was pressed against the wall, reaching for his shirt.

"We all would," Lockon replied, his voice serious. All of them had fought to be chosen by Veda as the Gundam Meisters. It was no wonder they all took it seriously.

Alleujah nodded and then slipped the tight shirt over his head, frowning at the spreading stiffness in his arms. "Is it meant to feel like this?" he asked, glancing over at Lockon. "It feels stiff." Hardly the worst that he'd endured, but worrying none the less. He couldn't react as quickly if his arms felt like this.

Lockon grasped his wrist, pulling the cotton pad up a little so he could examine the injection site. "Looks alright," he said, pulling away. "We've got a while before we get to do anything," he added wryly. "I don't think it should last more than a couple of days."

"Good," Allelujah replied.

There was a long silence and Allelujah shifted uncomfortably, not certain if he was supposed to say something or do something to make it stop. He was better at telling how to react than Setsuna who didn't know, or Tieria who either didn't know or didn't care, but Lockon was the only one of them who seemed to have that innate sense of what to so in these situations. It made Allelujah wonder what Lockon's life had been like that he could take that for granted.

"Are you scared?" Lockon asked after an awkward few minutes, looking sideways at Allelujah, his eyes searching.

"Uh..." Allelujah had to think about that one. Training exercises had become nearly routine and with all of the preparations, he hadn't really been thinking of the actual mission as anything but some far off event that seemed so slow in coming.

Finally he nodded, smiling wryly. "Tieria would say that it wasn't right for us to be scared," he said, with a touch of amusement at the thought of the other Meister. He'd worked with Tieria the most out of all of them and had learned to recognise some of his quirks. Well, sometimes anyway. "But," he continued, "I think it's probably better to be scared than to be over confident."

"Was that an admission?" Lockon asked with a grin.

"Was your question?" Allelujah replied quickly.

Lockon laughed, resting a hand against Allelujah's shoulder and squeezing it slightly. Allelujah tensed at the unexpected contact but then relaxed and shifted so that their shoulders were just touching.

"Maybe it is," Lockon said, eyes glinting with amusement. "Change can be frightening." His expression hardened, becoming more serious. At his side, his fingers curled into a fist. "And we're going to change the world."

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